Most Elaborate/Technically Advanced Scenic Designs — Page 2

While the actual sets where not that elaborate--the quick changes of scenery in Yerma were a technical marvel.

While the set as a whole was not technically that impressive, I need to give a shout-out to 9 to 5.



The scene change from the title number into the office was… chefs kiss!

Wee Thomas2 said:

But really, I can't recall the name of a play that was on a huge raised turntable. Maybe 8-9 years ago? And they had trouble with the mechanism (it wasn't Machinal) and had to manually turn it at least once during previews"

Might you mean Act One at LCT at the Beaumont? I loved that set, but I can't for the life of me remember if there was a turntable.

Sunset Blvd's set was amazing. As I recall, they had to get permits and building inspections to meet codes (I would think this requirement is true for many sets, but the newspapers at the time made a point of talking about it).

And to answer Jagman, yep, Act I had that gorgeous skeletal structure set on a giant turntable so you saw through the tenement sets to the Beekman Place mansion Hart would arrive at by Act 2. The set that put the brilliant Beowulf Borritt on the map. His current designs for NY NY are equally sumptuous though perhaps not so groundbreaking technologically.

Updated On: 4/20/23 at 06:10 PM

Auggie27 said: "I heard that the ill-fated Ghost was one of the most difficult to maintain, with led lights and the magical walls. The projections were fully integrated on every surface, and though the final effect was simple, the execution was a programming nightmare. I know someone who worked on the show, and it was one tech crisis after another."

It was breaking down even in previews. I remember going to see it on a Wednesday night and the show was stopped in Act II for 40 minutes due to a set piece breaking during a transition in the song…wait for it…”Nothing Stops Another Day”

Ravenclaw said: "The National Theatre'sHis Dark Materialswas a technical marvel... so much that some say it was a detriment to the play...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4f14uO27eI"

Not to mention Angels in America. I've never seen an entire show deck turn into an entirely different show deck. That was just insane to witness, from a tech nerve perspective.

Mary Zimmerman and her design team turning Circle in the Square into a giant pool for Metamorphoses was pretty amazing.

SUNSET BLVD.
After the show closed at the bway flea market that year parts of Norma’s mansion were on sale from the Broadway set.
i purchased the stained glass windows behind the stairs.



i always loved the original secret garden set and the victor / Victoria set. The beauty and the beast (at the palace) was amazing.

Miss Saigon! All the individual panels that ringed the stage and were raised and lowered...all the set pieces that glided in and out...and the Fall of Saigon scene was incredible, with the helicopter being the cherry on top :)

I had never seen a set like the one for THE LEHMAN TRILOGY before, nor one that did what it did.